![]() ![]() Mofokeng can see the cooling towers of the plant from her corrugated steel shack in Mooidraai, a field that once belonged to a local farm. Portia Mofokeng, 35, is one of the residents that live within breathing distance of Lethabo. She developed asthma in 2013 and blames her condition and regular visits to the hospital on industrial pollution. It has since been challenged by Eskom, which nevertheless said its own research has found that it kills about 330 people annually across all of its plants.Ī separate study by Sahu, who is based in California, showed that Lethabo exceeded emission limits for particulate matter, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides 620 times between April 2016 and December 2017, more than any of the 14 other coal-fired plants Eskom ran at the time. The study, conducted by UK-based consultant Mike Holland, was one of the first to detail the scale of power plant pollution in South Africa. A 2017 study by a leading expert on air pollution attributed 204 premature deaths a year to the Lethabo plant. The facility burns low-quality coal, meaning more pollution is produced per unit of energy generated. Possibly no settlement in the area has had to make a bigger sacrifice for South Africa’s economic gains than the township of Sharpeville, close to Eskom’s Lethabo power plant. ArcelorMittal and the government have also been sued by activists who previously won a ruling that the state was breaching the constitutional right to clean air in nearby Mpumalanga. The environment ministry, under new leadership, has signaled that it expects the companies to comply with tougher pollution limits set to come into effect in 2025. They’ve also repeatedly urged the government to consider the impact of tighter and more expensive pollution standards on their operations in a country with one of the world’s highest joblessness rates. ArcelorMittal SA has, in the past, threatened to shut down the formerly state-owned steel mill. have repeatedly said they can’t afford or don’t have the space to install the equipment required by law to reduce sulfur dioxide pollution. Traffic on the highways crisscrossing the region only adds to the pollution. Since then the air quality has hardly improved as companies have applied for, and received, exemptions to emission limits and dysfunctional municipalities have stopped collecting waste, forcing residents to burn it. In the mid-2000s, it designated the region as the Vaal Triangle Airshed Priority Area, the first zone in which it would make a concerted effort to lower air pollution. ![]() The problem has been on the South African government’s radar for decades. ![]() In the Vaal Triangle, many of them are emitted from industrial plants, which means they often include heavy metals and other toxins that are far more harmful than ordinary dust, according to Ranajit Sahu, an air quality consultant who has worked extensively on South African pollution. The often-invisible particulates travel deep into the lungs, which can lead to cancers and cardiac problems. Vereeniging regularly registers the highest concentration of microscopic emissions known as PM2.5, according to Bloomberg Green analysis of data from nonprofit OpenAQ, which runs an open-source network of over 4,000 sensors monitoring particulate pollution worldwide. A 1923 painting shows a happy image of the local Vaal River, with leisure boats sailing down a watercourse lined with steel mills and power plants.Ĭoal “has ensured industrialization and economic growth in the area,” a plaque proclaims. It was the site of the country’s first coal discovery in 1878, which helped magnates Sammy Marks and Hendrik van der Bijl establish one of South Africa’s most concentrated industrial areas. At the town’s Vaal Teknorama museum, the last lump of coal extracted from the Cornelia mine sits on a desk. Vereeniging is relatively unknown outside of South Africa, but the country owes much of its status as the most industrialized nation on the continent to it. The situation is a stark reminder of the toll the world’s dependency on steel, oil and coal is having on human health – and the difficulty a green transition faces if it costs the livelihood of the workers who depend on old economy jobs. The toxins are causing hundreds of premature deaths every year across the Vaal Triangle, and respiratory disease for many of those still breathing. ![]() The plants offer steady work for residents at a time when one in three South Africans are unemployed, yet they’re also pumping out harmful emissions at levels so high that Vereeniging is by some measures the most polluted city in the world. Hindustan Times - your fastest source for breaking news! Read now. ![]()
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